GENEVA- (ILO News) - “When our teacher told us about the competition for young people, it was the subject that attracted me. I think that decent working conditions are vital for a happy life. Everyone in the world should have decent work. That’s why I decided to write something”, explains Dominika Koflerová when asked why she chose to take part in the UPU’s 38th letter-writing competition.
The letter submitted by the fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, a pupil at Lískovec School in Frýdek-Místek in the Czech Republic, impressed the jury with its practical and original approach.
It begins as a simple letter thanking her sister for sending her a treat, but quickly becomes a story that goes to the very heart of the concept of decent work. “The chocolate I was eating was no ordinary bar of chocolate,” she said. “The Zambian producer is paid a fair price for his product, which enables him to support himself and his family.”
As Dominika explains: “First, I thought about what topic to choose and came up with the idea of fair trade. Chocolate and coffee are two of the most common fair trade products I know and, as I don’t drink coffee, I decided to write about chocolate”.
For the letter, and out of her own personal interest, Dominika researched the subject and came to realize that sadly decent work was still not a reality for many people. “One story I read had a particularly strong impact on me. It was about a family in Kenya living in a hut that was falling apart. The father used to work and so did six of his seven children. The youngest was seven years old. They worked from morning to night and yet they hardly earned enough to eat. The children were undernourished. They worked on cocoa plantations however their lives suddenly improved when the cocoa beans they picked began to be sold on the international fair trade market and their new employer introduced far better working conditions.”
At the tender age of fourteen, Dominika has already grasped the tremendous, positive impact that decent work can have: “The family's lives got much, much better. Only the father and the eldest son had to work. With their earnings they could not only repair their home but they could also afford to pay for the other children to go to school. These children got the chance to build a better future.”
According to the five members of the jury who represented the UPU, UNESCO and the ILO: “In addition to having an original take on the subject, Dominika has also shown rather cleverly how rich countries can contribute to decent work by purchasing fair trade goods. She has clearly demonstrated a strong understanding of the issue. From now on, whenever we eat a bar of chocolate, we will think of her winning letter”.
Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman, the ILO’s representative on the jury, noted that: “In one and a half pages, Dominika has managed to cover a number of aspects of decent work, including social dialogue, children’s education and working conditions, while reminding us of our own responsibilities. As Dominika has said, just improving working conditions gives people's lives a new meaning, and her words remind us that decent work is a fundamental objective that lies within our grasp.”
A young girl from Viet Nam, 13-year-old Nguyen Dac Xuan Thao, won the second prize. Two contestants tied for third place: Belarus’ Alina Beiner – 13 years old – and Montenegro’s Dejan Kovač – 12 years old – Special commendations went to Alanis Todeschini Marca (11), from Brazil, Sandhya Ramani (13), from India and Aditya Gupta (12), from Aruba.
Dominika received her first prize in a ceremony at ILO headquarters where she met with ILO Director-General Juan Somavia and UPU Director-General Edouard Dayan. The ILO launched its Decent Work Agenda to promote workers’ rights, job creation and social protection and dialogue, at the national, regional and international levels.
"All these children have distilled the meaning of work and the human dignity of work along with the vital economic role it plays in peoples’ lives,” Mr. Somavia said. “In these times of crisis, when we need a job intensive recovery, to have so many children around the world thinking about jobs—and decent jobs—is a contribution in itself to understanding the relationship between the experience we're living through and the significance of jobs."